OCTOBER 9, 2024
A tough test awaits for India when they travel to Australia later this year. Rohit Sharma’s men are scheduled to take Australia in a five match Test series starting from November.
A lot of India’s World Test Championship fate will depend on how they perform in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Teams generally find it tough to set the ball rolling on Australian soil, but India’s performances in the last two Test series will pave the way for an exciting affair.
They are currently leading the WTC table and are the favourites to secure a place in the final for the third consecutive time. They lost to New Zealand and Australia in the last two summit clashes and Rohit Sharma will look to add another ICC trophy to his cabinet before his retirement.
A lot of new players are expected to get their tickets for Australia and Yashasvi Jaiswal is one of them. The southpaw has quickly established himself as one of the prominent names and given his current form he will be one of the first names to get on that flight to Australia.
Cheteshwar Pujara played a pivotal part last time India traveled to Australia but he is currently not in the Indian setup as it stands.
Former Australian cricketer Shane Watson believes India won’t feel the absence of Pujara as Jaiswal will be crucial for Rohit Sharma’s role.
In an interaction with PTI, he said, “When you talk about Pujara is (that) he just doesn’t make a mistake. Whereas you’ve seen so many of these incredible batters for India, top-order batters like (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, he has scored runs very quickly, but he hasn’t made a mistake.
“He hasn’t really given the opposition a chance to be able to get him out. If those type of batters do come out to Australia and play aggressively, put the bad balls away and put the pressure on the Aussie bowlers, then they can still have the same effect and they keep the game moving as well.
“With the calibre of batters that India have got and the skill they’ve got, there’s no reason why they can’t combine that, putting pressure on the bowlers, score quickly but also not make mistakes.”
Courtesy/Source:Times Now / PTI
